After my smash-hitinformative extant article on old-tymey firearms, I've been itching able to spotlight another unusual piece of weaponry throughout a system's games. And as this week's deadline came (and went, and went some more), this topic hit me like (appropriately enough) a flying battle-axe! Figuratively!

There are more than a few NES games where you heave giant axes at people.

From stone-age flint hand-axes to modern-day camping hatchets, this happens a lot, and I thought I should document all as many cases as I could think of off the top of my head.

And while NES games aren't known for realism, it's slightly more believable when your video game hero carries infinite tiny bullets, as opposed to being able to toss an unlimited supply of huge medieval armaments. So, with that in mind, I'll waste vertical space separate axe-throwin' games into different categories based on how accessible/re-usable their tossed metal thingies are:

1) Throwing Axes must be Acquired, and their use is Limited

Castlevania & Castlevania III

2/3rds of the Belmondo's 8-bit adventures allow you to find 'n toss a number of different weapons, though each use charges your vampire-hunter some of the adorable Hearts (valentines?) he collects.

Unfortunately, like most ranged weapons, they soon run dry (usually during a boss fight), reducing you to your puny sword-swipe.

2) Throwing Axes must be Acquired, then their use is Unlimited

Hudson's Adventure Island, Adventure Island II(and presumably III as well, but I've never played it and can't be bothered to check).

While the bizarrely-named and attired "Master Higgins" gets a lot of upgrades from Game I to II, his most common power-up is still an infinite series of stone axes. These are discovered inside a giant egg because of course they are.

Adventures of Dino Riki

Unlike Master Higgins, this game's protagonist* starts with Fireballs, but by gathering a "FIST" icon from inside flowers he can upgrade his fireballs to the more powerful tomahawk.

*: who I can only assume is named "Dino-Riki;" something of a lateral move on the funny name front, really...

This makes him very happy, until he brushes against an enemy or their bullets, lose a health-unit, and get his weapon downgraded too.

Your main weapon is your sword, which can either hurt people by jutting from your torso mid-leap, or is shaken impotently an inch from your face while standing still. To counteract this horrible scheme, you'll first gather...

a "Dagger of Throwing",

and later you may be lucky enough to upgrade it to the "Battle Axe of Agor" (pictured above). Both of these mighty weapons "boomerang" back to you when thrown (and will circle you like angry bees if you don't re-catch them!). Also, strangely enough, they 'collect' most power-ups the collide with.

3) You Start with Throwing Axes, but their use is Limited

AD&D: Heroes of the Lance

The world's oddest/most pointless game comes complete with the oddest/most pointless throwing axe:

Each of the game's 8 characters begins with 1 piece of equipment: some of them are vital -- like the Wizard and Cleric's magic wand/staff (which is apparently where all their actual spell-castin' mojo comes from)

Some of them could be handy (like a bow-and-arrows or Kender slingshot-stick); they're an incredibly weak ranged weapon (even the puniest enemy takes several shots to put down), but at least you have a goodly amount of ammo.

But then, you have the two dudes whose initial equipment is just there for completeness: one has a spear, and Flint has a Hand Axe (not to be confused with the "axe" melee weapon attached to his character). These are one-use thrown weapons, and if you're lucky enough to throw it at an angle that connects with an enemy, that's one less melee attack that you have to land later! (Meaning, you'll still have to hit any enemy at least 2-3 more times).

4) You Start with Throwing Axes, and have Unlimited Uses

Gauntlet & Gauntlet II

You may have four characters to choose from in either Gauntlet-game...

but if you select the beefy Warrior, you'll spend the entire Gauntlet-run heaving two-handed, double-headed axes at every orc, ghost and imp in the entire dungeon. None can withstand your mighty onslaught!

oh, except this guy, who's only vulnerable to magic potions.

(and the Warrior sucks with magic potions).

And on that note...

I hope this article has sucked away all your ignorance of NES games with throwing axes!